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Richmond City Prosector Won't Seek Charges Against Mayor

Richmond's top prosecutor will not recommend charges against Mayor Dwight Jones following an investigation into possible overlap between his church and city business. Richmond City Commonwealth's Attorney Michael Herring released a 16-page report on the investigation findings Wednesday (11/30) morning.

“At the end of this we concluded lots of things,” Atty. Herring told reporters. “Ultimately, we are not recommending charges for indictment to the grand jury."

The inquiry stems from a 2015 complaint to Richmond’s Office the Inspector General (OIG) accusing the city's then Interim Public Works Director Emmanuel Adediran - who is also a member of Mayor Jones' First Baptist Church of South Richmond congregation - of taking care of church construction business on the city's dime.

The OIG found Adediran had spent nearly 40 work hours “providing guidance” on a church construction project through conference calls and city email. Herring says that while nothing reflects well on the administration, Mayor Jones’ actions don’t amount to criminal conduct.

“Any referral for prosecution had to be grounded on probable cause,” said Herring, “and it simply didn’t reach that level. We didn’t find city money allocated for use for this project. We didn’t find inducements in the way of quid pro quo or otherwise.”

Attorney Herring says his office's portion of the investigation has concluded, but he cannot confirm the same for other agencies like the Justice Department, or the FBI. Herring did indicate